Iran denies helping Syrian regime build secret nuclear reactor

Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has denied media reports that the Syrian regime is building a “secret nuclear reactor, with the help from Iranian experts,” Anadolu agency reported.

Zarif’s remarks came in a joint press conference held on Sunday with Cypriot foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulidis in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Zarif described the allegations, reported by German Der Spiegel magazine, as “funny” according to official government news agency, IRNA.

The minister pointed out that some circles are promoting such allegations in order to mislead international public opinion and to create a state of anxiety towards Iran, stressing that his country opposes nuclear weapons anywhere in the world. “We believe that all nuclear weapons must be destroyed,” he said.

Der Spiegel claimed that the Syrian regime is working to build a secret underground nuclear facility in a mountainous area near the town of Qusair, two kilometres from the Lebanese-Syrian border.

The magazine noted that it has obtained exclusive documents, satellite photos, and phone calls intercepted by intelligence agencies.

According to the magazine, the Syrian regime transferred to the compound in question 8,000 fuel rods from its previous nuclear reactor in the north-eastern Deir Al-Zour region, which was destroyed in 2007 in what foreign media reports alleged was an Israeli air strike.

According to Der Spiegel, North Korean and Iranian experts are helping the Syrian regime build a secret nuclear facility.

The magazine quoted Western experts as saying that the site can be used to build a uranium enrichment plant.